By the Grace of G-d
29th of Shevat, 5717
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Sholom u’Brocho:
I was pleased to receive your letter of the 23rd of Shevat, in which you write that your thirteenth birthday (Bar Mitzvah) was on the 22nd of Shevat.
I trust that your teachers, especially Rabbi I. Altein in whose class you are, have explained to you the great importance and significance of becoming Bar Mitzvah, and of being henceforth a fully responsible Jew, and that you are determined to observe and fulfill all the Mitzvoth.
Since you write that you are going to read the entire Sedrah Terumah this coming Shabbos, you have surely repeated many times, in the course of your preparation, the very significant words v’osu li Mikdosh v’shochanti b’soichom (“Let them make unto Me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them”). Our Sages say in this connection, that the emphasis is on them, that is to say, that G-d wants to dwell in the midst of every Jew.
In other words, every Jew is a sanctuary for G-d, and just as the Sanctuary (Beth-Hamikdosh) had to be pure and holy, so must every Jew be pure and holy so that G-d will find a proper place in his heart. And, as you know, in order that a Jew be a true “sanctuary” for G-d, he must follow in the path of the holy Torah and observe the holy Mitzvoth. This is not difficult to do when there is the will and determination to do it, and G-d helps and makes it even easier and sends His blessings for success in every way.
Those teenagers on your street about whom you write that they think you could get a better education in a public high school, are obviously wrong. For the best education a Jewish boy can get is in a Yeshivah, the kind of education that helps the boy to become a “sanctuary” for G-d, and it is through this kind of a Torah-and-Mitzvoth-education that real happiness is assured for him.
I hope to hear good news from you in connection with the above,
With blessing,
By (secretary)
